“Moderate Radicals” June 23, 2019 Dr. Roger Ray
Walt Whitman "Be radical - be radical - be not too damned radical!"
Will Biden make one of the verbal slips he is so famous for? Will Sanders stop his slide in the polls? Will Warren manage to sustain her rise in the polls without being seen on stage between Biden and Sanders?
This is familiar language to me. I grew up in Kentucky and there was a time when I was a regular at Churchill Downs, studying the racing forms to consider a horse’s poll position, jockey, trainers, pedigree, and when all else fails, what colors the jockey and horse were sporting. And the time frame is about right . . . the horses get about two minutes to show which one of them will win.
I understand why commentators turn it into a horse race or a beauty contest. They want to make it a contest of people when we, the voters, the citizens of this huge democracy, are much more impacted by policies and ideas. But those tend to get tossed off pejoratively with all of the depth of name calling on a school playground.
Not to put you on the spot, but, to honestly put you on the spot, how many of you know who this man is? He is one of the least known Democratic candidates and, in any rational analysis, he has absolutely no chance of winning. However, he represents one of the single most important issues facing America’s future. Andrew Yang is an advocate for the Universal Basic Income. As an entrepreneur and philanthropist, he has read the tea leaves of the future of capitalism and has recognized that automation will increasingly reduce the need for labor, especially unskilled labor, and that we will very soon have a lot more people than we will have jobs. Under our current economic system, the way we distribute wealth, will continue to transfer more and more wealth to the top and a jobless economy on the bottom will lead to social collapse.
Yang is a capitalist who wants to make capitalism more humane. His campaign slogan is “Make America Think Harder.” In the beauty contest that is our primary process, he has little to no chance of being noticed, but his signature policy is vital to saving America’s economy and, sadly, it is not even being publicly discussed.
Another candidate who receives almost no attention is this fellow . . . anybody care to hazard a guess? This is the candidate who asked that there be one Democratic debate devoted solely to discussing climate issues because we are now in the 6thmajor extinction and we are deteriorating the environment of this planet in such a way that we are placing the ability of humans to survive here at risk. The issue is huge, vital, and given only a fraction of the attention that it deserves. Still, realistically, Gov. Jay Inslee, of Washington, has almost no chance of being a viable candidate.
Two of the other important issues that we talk about in our hopefully soon to be released book about creating a great society, has to do with unnecessary wars and the absurd failure of our country to enact sensible gun laws to stem the more than 30,000 annual deaths from guns in America. There is a candidate who has spoken powerfully and meaningfully and knowledgably about these two issues. Could you hazard a guess as to which candidate that might be?
Though David Ketchum might tell you that I only refer to Iraq war veteran and Hawaiian congress member, Tulsi Gabbard, for her exotic Polynesian beauty, she has actually been a very controversial opponent of America’s unnecessary wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an opponent of regime change in Syria. She has also been a noted advocate for sensible gun laws that have been proven to work in other countries. She said some really stupid things about LGBT rights when she was in her early 20’s but has since made a 180 degree, and I would argue, plausible change of views. In spite of her military service on the battlefield, and her experience in elected office, she is receiving almost no serious consideration.
And what really frosts me on this issue is that the real winners in this race are people you not only don’t know but you will never know them. They are the lobbyists who are privately, secretly, recruiting candidates who will oppose any plan that will end the strangle hold that private insurance companies have on the bazillion dollar healthcare cash cow that they love so much.
I hope that you understand that I am not saying this to promote the candidacy of Yang, Inslee, or Gabbard or anyone else. What I am struggling to point out is that the media and the Democratic party would always want to guide voters to the safest possible choice. The choice that will not change anything very much. In politics, the status quo is always king.
When I think about our economy, gun laws, healthcare, environment, military, and even civil rights, this image of Thelma and Louise sailing off the cliff describes our current political situation. And yet, the DOC and the media want us to choose a candidate whose best plan is for us to buy a newer model car to drive off the cliff.
I love Walt Whitman, but honestly, I don’t know if he was being serious or if he was making fun of Americans when he said, “Be radical – be radical – be not too damned radical.” Maybe it has to do with our sheer size, the economic weight of our institutions, but when radical measures are needed to make a course correction in America to keep from driving off the cliff, we never seem to be able to do it.
Just for example, in 2008, when large banks created investment tools that put high risk loans into commonly traded commodities, bringing about a global recession and housing crisis, in America, we gave huge bailouts to the banks that were “too big to fail” so that the people who caused the crisis were able to award themselves billions of dollars in bonuses out of the pockets of the very people who had suffered having their homes repossessed and the businesses go bankrupt.
Don’t reward pharmaceutical companies that have raised the price of life saving insulin by 1000% in the past decade. Put them out of business and provide insulin to people who need it at cost. Why should diabetes be a profit center?
Is that such a radical idea? Am I the crazy one who sees illness as a problem to be solved rather than an opportunity to get rich by exploiting the desperation of people who are ill?
Most of you have never had to see me in full armored clergy “mad as hell” but, it happens from time to time. For 25 years I have been writing, demonstrating, and lobbying for a redress of the predatory lending in Missouri by Payday and Car Title loan companies. I was back before our city council on Monday night, passionately imploring the council to take decisive action on the matter, as I have in the past with Gov. Jay Nixon, and several members of our legislature. I made no more progress on Monday night than I have at any other time when I have mounted my steed and charged this Quixotic windmill.
You may detect that I am more than a little angry about the indifference and inaction of our city government, our state government, and our national government on many issues that have to do with honestly life and death matters.
What we get from almost all politicians is excuses and policy offerings that amount to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. At a recent fund raiser, current leader in the polls, Joe Biden, told a group of wealthy donors, “I need you very badly." Then he said, "No one’s standard of living will change, nothing would fundamentally change." As they said on The Young Turks, That could be his campaign slogan. Do people still not understand why progressives have no interest in voting for him?
I am going to pay attention to the primary process. I will vote for the candidate that is willing to make the most radical statements about substantive change on the topics that matter the most. But what I am sure of is that we will never vote our way into the great society that long for. Our savior will not hold elected office.
May I ask you to read the banner behind me in unison: Thou shalt not stand idly by.
Please, my friends, think past identity politics. Don’t focus on the candidates you like, think about the issues that face the world. The environment isn’t Republican or Democrat. The economy isn’t male or female. Racism, sexism, fascism, and xenophobia are not young or old, black, brown, or white. The stakes are very high and we need more than a beauty contest or a horse race.
I implore you to be radical, not to be iconoclastic, not to encourage any kind of childish anarchy, but be radical enough to make real changes in the arenas where the world is accelerating towards the cliff. Be radical – be radical – be sure that you are radical enough to get the job done.
